The latest decision by an Appellate court telling Oceanport and Shore Regional their attorneys cannot effectively change the law and prevent Sea Bright from thinking for itself brings up a serious question: do attorneys ever tell their clients in advance when they don’t stand a prayer in winning their position in a contest?
The Decision Sea Bright Wins Appeal
That in itself brings up another far more serious question when it comes to boards of education or elected officials in any capacity when it comes to hiring lawyers to fight decisions: do the elected officials ever even ask their paid consultants what the chances are of winning in court?
A recent story in VeniVidiScripto on Oceanport’s nearly $150,000 for their lawyer alone to fight the law established specifically to enable Sea Bright to quit their district shows how much that one district alone spent on their attorney in the last three years specifically on regionalization.
How much it cost Shore Regional has not yet been reported, nor has a recent OPRA Request been honored.
Of course Sea Bright also then has to pay its own attorney to defend its position, a position that has been made three times now has been made clear, simply because Shore Regional and Oceanport apparently can’t believe the law.
Did any one of the school board members even ask the attorneys what made them think they could win, or what their chances were of a different opinion on a third go around after losing twice?
Yes, Sea Bright might have one member on the Shore Regional school board. But that’s usually highly unlikely even to have that one member seated. Sea Bright does not have any seats on the Oceanport Board.
Oceanport elects its board members at large, and given the fact Oceanport has four times the voters as Sea Bright, does it seem likely the smaller town has much of a chance of representation?
Might the fact their odds are better in the Henry Hudson district be one of the reasons Sea Bright wants to blend with its neighbors to the north instead of where it is?
Again, the irony. Sea Bright, since it is still a member of the Board of Education from which they are trying to be released, is paying for both sides: their own defense and the portion of their district’s cost of trying to keep them from doing what they want. But, with so little representation in the district in which they’re pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars for the education of fewer than six dozen kids, their voice or questions would be unlikely to sway a board that apparently simply listens to its paid professional without question.
